8 June 2018
Secondary school places in Adur will run out before the mid 2020's.
This is the stark prediction facing concerned parents, 100 or so of whom attended at the Future of Adur Schools Team (FAST) public meeting at the Shoreham Centre on 7th June.
We have many great schools, as was apparent from the input of Heads and other School Leaders at the meeting.
Changes in the ages and make-up of residents (more families), migration from Brighton and the impact of 3,000+ new homes to be built over the next twelve years in the Adur Local Plan all mean that capacity will be reached in around five years time.
There is expected to be intake capacity at the schools in Lancing and Portslade for a few years, but the arithmetic catches up with this in 4 or 5 years time.
Solutions can be found, as one parent eloquently said, by Adur District Council and West Sussex County Council, Heads and parent representatives sitting down to plan ahead and select options.
There seems a lack of urgency or any visible forward planning by the County Council. We were left wondering what the five County Councillors for the Shoreham, Lancing and Southwick areas were doing that was more important than meeting with concerned parents at this event?
AB/JS